Exercise and Learning All At Once!
Pros:
Easy exercise/learning during cold or wet weather
Cons:
Game doesn't leave where the kids left off - starts at beginning
The Bottom Line:
Active kids will love the games, parents will love the learning.
|
|
Overall Rating:
|
 |
|
Author's Review
We bought this bike for our 3 1/2 year old son, who is active and rambunctious. During the winter months he is unable to go outside to play, so we thought this bike would be a great option for him.
The box in which it was delivered was large, but I have to say that the process of putting it together was surprisingly easy. It only took me about 20 minutes to lay out all the pieces and then put it together. I was also pleased with how sturdy it was once it was finished.
As promised, the bike just plugs into the TV video/audio channels and is ready to play. No muss, no fuss! The bike comes with one game that asks kids to identify colors, shapes, numbers, letters, but also just a few games that involve riding the bike.
Come Christmas morning both of my kids were thrilled with the bike! We turned it on, and they took turns riding. My 4 1/2 year old daughter has difficulty riding a bike in real life, but after a few days riding this bike she is a pro. My 3 1/2 year old son, who WANTS to ride a bike, refused to leave the bike until he learned how to use it well. He spent a lot of time learning how to use the joystick, all the buttons, the steering, and the pedals. It has been two weeks since they first were introduced to the bike, and they are both aficionados at this point.
My only complaint is about the game that came with the bike. It is not intuitive at all. So when my son starts a round of the barn letter game, if he leaves that section to play another game and then comes back, it starts RIGHT BACK AT THE BEGINNING and he has to go through 20-30 letters before he sees new material. For that reason, I think it'll be important to pick up a few more games or my kids will quickly grow bored with the learning games and stop using the bike as often as they do now.
There are about 10 "games" on the cartridge that came with the bike - I'll just mention a few. The alphabet game mentioned above asks the child to use the joystick to choose the letter required to finish a word. The voice says, "Select the letter J" and then waits for the child to pick the "J" from the three letters shown. It then shows the completed word that begins with J. Another game on the cartridge has the child ride the bike and use the steering to "bump" into letters on the track to add to their score. The one game that is pretty much useless because it's not really game is the numbers game. The screen shows the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 and then covers them with clouds. The child has to use the joystick to move the clouds until a number is shown. So if the child rolls over "7", at that point the clouds part and seven items show up on the screen and get counted. I suppose that would be good for kids learning their numbers, but the fact is I've only ever seen the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 - I've not ever seen ANY other numbers come up. If it changed out the numbers and/or did addition/subtraction I could see how that would be a good game.
The bike runs on D batteries, and after two weeks of use the batteries are still strong, which is good considering how much they play on it.
As for storage, when not in use we tuck it beside our entertainment center, but it's a big piece and not easily "hidden". It would be perfect for a game room that is specifically for kids, though.
